Banana Pancakes
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Start your morning off right with fluffy banana pancakes, made with simple ingredients and packed with sweet banana flavor. Whether you’re craving a quick weekday breakfast or something special for a weekend brunch, these pancakes are the perfect way to kick off your day.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
Fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and delicately flavored with bananas and vanilla—these are phenomenal banana pancakes. The recipe, believe it or not, is adapted from a Williams Sonoma children’s cookbook, which only proves how easy they are to make. I love them with a simple drizzle of maple syrup, but if you want to dress them up and hint at what’s inside, top them with fresh sliced bananas.
This banana pancake recipe is great year-round, but you can switch it up with seasonal variations—try pumpkin pancakes in the fall or blueberry pancakes in the summer. For a classic option, my basic pancake recipe is always a winner!
“SO good! I’m constantly making batches of these. The family devours them! Sometimes I add a handful of chocolate chips, but they’re lovely as is. Thanks Jenn!”
What You’ll Need To Make Banana Pancakes
- All-purpose flour: The foundation of the pancakes. For best results, scoop it into your measuring cup with a spoon and level it off with a knife.
- Sugar: Just enough to lightly sweeten the pancakes.
- Baking powder: Helps the pancakes rise so they turn out soft and fluffy.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and brings out all the flavors.
- Banana: Adds natural sweetness, moisture, and that classic banana flavor. Use a very ripe banana–the riper, the better.
- Eggs: Hold everything together and give the batter some richness.
- Milk: Adds moisture and helps create a smooth batter.
- Vanilla extract: Adds a little warmth and flavor in the background.
- Melted Butter: Brings richness and moisture to the batter; also used for greasing the pan and adding flavor while the pancakes cook.
- Vegetable Oil: Used along with butter to cook the pancakes to a golden-brown without burning.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Make sure to whisk thoroughly to break up any lumps and evenly distribute the baking powder.
Step 2: Mash the banana and mix the wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, mash the banana until nearly smooth. Add the eggs, whisk with a fork, and stir in the milk and vanilla.
Step 3: Combine everything. Pour the banana mixture and melted butter into the dry ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula. Folding gently (instead of stirring vigorously) prevents overworking the batter, which can make the pancakes dense or tough. The batter will be thick and a bit lumpy—that’s totally normal.
Step 4: Cook the pancakes. Heat a little vegetable oil and butter in a nonstick pan or on a griddle over medium heat. (Using both oil and butter is kind of the best of both worlds: oil prevents burning, while butter adds flavor.) Spoon the batter onto the surface and cook until bubbles form on top and the bottom is golden and crisp.
Step 5: Flip and finish. Flip the pancakes and cook a few minutes more, until cooked through. (Resist the urge to press down on the pancakes—this squeezes out air and makes them less fluffy.)
Step 6: Serve with toppings. Serve warm with maple syrup and sliced bananas. You can also add chopped nuts or a dusting of cinnamon for extra flavor. Leftover pancakes can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Video Tutorial
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Banana Pancakes
Ingredients
For Pancakes
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 small over-ripe banana, peeled (the browner, the better)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For Cooking
- 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
For Serving
- Maple syrup
- Sliced bananas
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork until almost smooth. Whisk in the eggs, then add the milk and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Pour the banana mixture and the melted butter into the flour mixture. Fold the batter gently with a rubber spatula until just blended; do not over-mix. The batter will be thick and lumpy.
- Set a griddle or non-stick pan over medium heat until hot. Put a pad of butter and one tablespoon vegetable oil onto the griddle, and swirl it around. Drop the batter by ¼-cupfuls onto the griddle, spacing the pancakes about 2 inches apart. Cook until a few holes form on top of each pancake and the underside is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until the bottom is golden brown and the top is puffed, 1 to 2 minutes more. Using the spatula, transfer the pancakes to a serving plate.
- Wipe the griddle clean with paper towels, add more butter and oil, and repeat with the remaining batter. Serve the pancakes while still hot with maple syrup and sliced bananas, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Very nice
This has been our fave go-to pancake recipe for a long time. I let bananas over-ripen in anticipation for this, and it never disappoints. Jenn’s Blueberry pancake recipe is also amazing. So when I have blueberries, I add a few onto each banana pancake. My own hybrid pancake. I make the full recipe for the two of us, and the extras are saved for the next day. I keep them between a couple layers of paper towels, then they are heated up in the toaster oven covered with parchment paper. This works for me in keeping them moist. Try them with that blueberry maple syrup! Oh – coconut oil to cook them in for extra yum!
Wow Jenn, these were the best pancakes I’ve ever had, let alone made! Fluffy and flavorful. I used 1.5 overripe bananas because that’s what I had on hand. Also had a 1/2 lemon I needed to use, so I squeezed it into the measuring cup before measuring the milk and let the milk plus lemon sit for a few minutes to make homemade buttermilk. Topped with a touch of salted Kerrygold butter and fresh maple syrup. Divine. Thank you for this recipe!
Fabulous pancakes! I used King Arthur’s gluten free blend and they were beautifully fluffy, and crisp. I would describe my banana as large versus small but it didn’t ruin the recipe at all. My 5 year old, who is extremely picky, requested “snow” on top (aka powdered sugar) and proceeded to devour them with a “yummy, mommy!” My 2 year old also loved them. This is a fantastic recipe that I’ll be using again and again as I have many ripe bananas in the freezer, waiting to be baked. I’ve cooked/baked numerous recipes by Jenn, and they simply don’t disappoint. She is my go-to as I have limited time in the kitchen with tiny humans and I don’t like wasting precious ingredients. She makes me a super star in my own kitchen and I’m extremely grateful! ⭐️ ♥️ 😋
Seriously the absolute BEST banana pancakes that I’ve had. If you haven’t made these, you are really missing out!
Jen, I love these as pancakes, but just got a new waffle iron—what adjustments, if any, would I have to make to use this recipe for waffles?
Thanks for such a wonderful recipe 🙂
So glad you like them! Hi, I wouldn’t recommend making waffles out of these as they’re really not intended to be converted. Although they don’t have banana mixed in, you could try these waffles. Hope you enjoy if you make them!
It came out wonderfully well the 3-4 times we have used this recipe.
We used two bananas of approximately 5inches, and like the ratio and taste of the pancakes.
Easy to whip up and just as delightful to have as a treat for breakfast or teatime. Absolutely approve.
Not sure what went wrong but my batter turned out quite runny, maybe as I had extra large eggs vs large ones, thought it should not have made a big difference. I had to almost add half of more flour
Hi Anushree the difference in the size of the eggs should not made a difference because I used 2 extra large eggs and it came out great for me. Maybe your measurements for the milk and melted butter was off. I hope you try it again because they are delicious.
I’ve made these weekly and they are delicious! Perfect use for (over) ripe bananas and I’ve been playing around with the different flours on my shelf. All have done very well – next I’m going to try separating the egg, and folding in the peaky whites at the very end to make them even more fluffy – well maybe – but honestly just follow the recipe!
Very good pancakes! My girls scarfed them down. A good way to sneak in bananas for my 3 year old who doesn’t like eating plain bananas.
The best!!! Absolutely amazing!!!